trans-racial dysmorphia.

The next identity crisis.

Today I listened to the story of Cristina Hineman, a “de-transitioner.” Christina thought she was transgender, then realized she was not. As such, she can give us special insight into the transgender phenomenon.

Stories like Cristina’s are seemingly valuable to right-wing opponents of transgenderism. Her misfortunate makes her a naturally sympathetic figure, and it’s hard to be critical of someone who has suffered so much. But Cristina was not a child when she began surgical and hormonal treatments; she was 18. Her transition wasn’t caused by “doctors grooming kids,” as conservatives allege.¹

Cristina clearly suffers from a series of illnesses and disadvantages, some of which are quite obvious. She could choose to blame herself for these, her genetics, or her parents, God, her friends, her schooling, American culture, demonic possession, “the elites,” or social media. Instead, she blames medical professionals for not being sufficiently paternalistic in their warnings about the risks of transitioning.

Just as Cristina was brainwashed and coached by pro-trans social media into a certain script (“I’m trans, I need gender affirming care, I identify as a man”) it seems that she has been brainwashed and coached into a conservative script, one which places all responsibility for her actions on doctors.

There is no deeper reflection on what it might mean that “an 18 year old is not responsible enough to google male pattern baldness and infertility.” How might that affect voting rights, or any constitutional right? The implied solution is more regulation, more disclaimers, more paternalism, more nagging, and more warnings. Would conservatives endorse such measures for purchasing a gun, or posting on social media?

Even if doctors told her that her surgery would risk infertility, baldness, sexual dissatisfaction, or suicide, I would not be at all surprised if Cristina still went through with it. She was a true believer, after all. Blaming doctors is easy, simple, and clean. It takes a much broader problem with human agency, mental health, and sexual culture, and reduces it a single point of failure.

Conservatives have encouraged Cristina to blame the doctors, because they are the easiest target to legislate or sue, but they were the last stop in a long process of “gender ideation.” What was most important for Cristina’s decision was her friends, her sexuality, and her relationship with social media. It is much harder for conservatives to legislate friend groups, social media, and sex, even if that is where the problem lies. As a result, they push the entire moral burden onto doctors, in an act of scapegoating. But crucifying doctors with legislation and lawsuits will not change the underlying trend.

In Russia, where “LGBTQ propaganda” is legally banned, sex change operations still occur.

Source.

“In Russia oral estrogens and progesterone, oral antiandrogens, as well as testosterone and estrogen gels could be bought in a pharmacy without any prescriptions… (no medical control)... According the Order of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation No. 850 dated 10.23.2017 “On the Approval of the Form and Procedure for Issuance of a Gender Reassignment Document by the Medical Organization” permission for GAP [gender-affirming procedures]… is given by a medical commission... To get the permission a person should be over 18 years and have a diagnosis of F64.0 (ICD-10) “transsexualism” stated by the commission. After getting this document a person might undergo AHT [affirmative hormonal therapy] and SAS (sex-affirmative-surgery).”²

Despite the fact that Russia has a de-regulated medical industry, with no restrictions on over-the-counter hormones, and despite the fact that “transsexualism” is considered a valid diagnosis (rather than a form of demonic possession), Russia does not produce yearly documentaries on “detransitioners.” This should give the “pro-regulation conservatives” pause. Blaming doctors for gender transitions is like blaming knives for stabbings or guns for shootings.

Conservatives are entirely unprepared and incapable of slowing the surge of LGBTQ identification. Conservatives for years have predicted (with smug or hysterical defeatism) that the next stage of normalization, after transsexuality, would be pedophilia, bestiality, or polyamory. I have a different prediction.

Everyone, right and left, should listen to Cristina’s story, and use it as a basis to predict a parallel phenomenon: trans-racial dysmorphia.

trans-racialism.

Trans-racial dysmorphia describes the discomfort that some individuals feel with their own race, and their desire or fantasy to become a member of a different race.

People of color spend more than $9 billion dollars annually on skin-whitening products. By 2030, this number is expected to reach $16 billion. At least 55% of white people³ have tried some kind of tanning product, beyond simply enjoying the natural tanning effects of sunlight.

This is not to say that 55% of white people are trans-racial in a conscious sense, but that a preference for darker skin than is “naturally possible” might contain elements of trans-racialism, at the margins. For comparison, as general androgyny among a majority of men has increased, this large-scale phenomenon has given birth to conscious trans-gender identification at the margins.

Of course, not all androgynous or feminine men become FtM transgender, but the larger phenomenon of gender androgyny leads to marginal identification. Similarly, “racial ambiguity” on a large scale will lead to trans-racialism at the margins. Subconscious forms of trans-racialism might eventually lead to more conscious forms.

Trans-racial dysmorphia is real. Just as transgenderism is attacked as “a narcissistic ploy for attention,” trans-racial individuals are also viciously attacked. Whereas MtF transitioners are accused of being “fake women” by TERFs,⁴ WtB⁵ transitioners are accused of being “cultural appropriators.”

On the other hand, FtM transitioners are treated much more kindly. Whereas MtFs are stereotyped as creeps, weirdos, groomers, rapists, pedophiles, and even serial killers, FtMs are viewed as victimized, groomed, brainwashed, or confused. Similarly, WtB trans-racialists are viewed as evil, colonizers, appropriators, and racists. Already in the 1990s, they were being referred to as “wiggers,” which is a slur against WtF trans-racialists.

On the other hand, BtW trans-racialists are generally sympathized with, having “internalized colonialism,” or considered “race traitors.” Because the policing profession is associated with whiteness, black cops are considered by the left to be “infected with whiteness.” In the same way that a man dressed in drag is considered by some to be trans-gender (even if he does not identify as female), a black police officer is considered by some to be BtW trans-racial.

what is race?

The question of “what is race?” is similar to the question, “what is gender?”

The right is correct to say that all of these categories have a biological component. The biological aspect of race allows us to determine someone’s ancestry with a DNA test; it allows us to identify racial characteristics from skeletal remains; it allows us to make better medical decisions. The field of pharmacogenomics has identified biological racial disparities. Drugs which affect blacks, whites, and Asians differently include BiDil, hydrochlorothiazide, Eltrombopag, Crestor, warfarin, and abacavir. As medicine advances, this list will likely expand.

Which of these individuals is black?

At the same time, race also clearly has a social component. Is Kamala Harris black, or is she Indian? Is Barack Obama black, or is he white? From a genetic standpoint, Kamala Harris clusters most closely with “Caucasians,” or west Eurasians. Her father is only partially black. He is an Afro-European. Combined with her mother’s ancestry, Kamala would broadly fit in with other West Eurasian peoples, ranging from Egyptians, Moroccans, Swedes, Turkmen, and Sri Lankans.

But although this classification may inform us regarding Kamala’s biological and medical profile, it has little correlation with the average person’s understanding of race.

ambiguity, aspiration.

As identity becomes more ambiguous, it becomes more aspirational and high-pressure. This fact explains many phenomena in our society:

1. As America’s political system becomes less historically recognizable, trustworthy, or stable, people become more politically fanatical (polarized);

2. As our conception of masculine and feminine are undermined, people have less tolerance for gender ambiguity (tomboy genocide), and feel the need to strictly categorize their gender, sexual, and romantic identity with an ever growing list of technical and scientific terms;

3. As our conception of race is undermined, people will increasingly identify racially in ways which seem, to conservatives, to be contradictory or ridiculous.

The founders of the NAACP were mostly mixed-race individuals. It seems odd that these individuals, with marginal identities, put themselves at the vanguard of an ethnic and racial activist movement. Wouldn’t we expect the most pure blacks to be the most ethnocentric and the mixed blacks to be less ethnocentric? After all, why would you care about your race if it’s all mixed up anyway? The answer to this seeming contradiction is that those with “split identities” have a greater incentive to develop “polarized identities.”

splitting.

Imagine a very boring person. They come from an all-white family. Everyone in their family is a fairly moderate conservative. They like low taxes, but have a fairly libertarian attitude on social issues. No one is divorced. They all go to a mainline Christian church, where most of their religious activity is organized around singing anodyne hymns about peace and joy, or serving soup at the homeless shelter on holidays. They live in an all-white neighborhood with low crime, low divorce, and not much has changed in the last 50 years. Does such a person have an incentive to become trans-gender, trans-racial, or politically polarized?

On the other hand, imagine a person whose life is full of fractures and divisions. Their father is black; their mother is white. They have never met their father. Their mother doesn’t have a stable partner, and goes through a series of boyfriends and divorces. Each man is very different, temperamentally and politically. Some of these partners are openly sexist, others are violent, some have drug problems, and others are more stable. Throughout childhood, this person moves around to very different neighborhoods. Some are rich, others are poor. At times they are surrounded with wealthy peers, and at other times they find themselves homeless. Does such a person have an incentive to become trans-gender, trans-racial, or politically polarized?

Trans-identity and political polarization is not determined by any one factor or set of experiences. There is some indication, however, that trans-gender people have higher intelligence than average.⁶ They also have higher rates of a number of mental illnesses. 57.1% of those with gender dysphoria have Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as opposed to 2% of those without gender dysphoria. Could it also be that trans-racialists also tend to be more narcissistic?

ethnocentrism and narcissism.

In 1911, William Graham Sumner defined ethnocentrism as follows:

"The sentiment of cohesion, internal comradeship, and devotion to the in-group, which carries with it a sense of superiority to any out-group and readiness to defend the interests of the in-group against the out-group, is technically known as ethnocentrism.”

A study performed in 2008 found that there are two forms of ethnocentrism:⁷ intergroup, and intragroup. Intergroup ethnocentrism refers to how people express ethnic pride when faced with opposing groups. Intragroup ethnocentrism refers to how people express ethnic pride within their own group. According to Bizumic and Duckitt,

“Ingroup positivity and outgroup negativity are distinct and often unrelated to each other.”

For example, imagine a white person speaking with a black person. During the conversation, the black person makes a racially suggestive remark, like “Trump is just an old white man.” Intergroup ethnocentrism would increase the likelihood of a negative response. Perhaps the white man would call out this comment, or be more likely to develop negative attitudes toward this individual. This would be a manifestation of “outgroup negativity.”

Those with low intergroup ethnocentrism would be less likely to have any response at all. For example, a liberal white person might laugh along, or view the comment in a neutral manner.

On the other hand, intragroup ethnocentrism predicts “ingroup positivity.” For example, a Jewish woman who teaches her children how to cook Matzah ball soup; a native American man who teaches his children the dwindling language of his people; a German man who takes his children on vacation to Germany to visit the homeland of his ancestors. All of these would be examples of “ingroup positivity,” or intragroup ethnocentrism.

The conclusion of the 2008 study (Bizumic, Duckitt) is that narcissists are low in “ingroup positivity,” but they are high in “outgroup negativity.” In other words, narcissists are much more likely to use racial slurs, engage in racial hatred or violence, or support mass deportations of alien ethnic groups. If this were true, then we should expect that black Americans, who score higher than whites in narcissistic tendencies,⁸ would also exhibit high levels of outgroup negativity, but not as much ingroup positivity. In other words, we should expect blacks to be relatively more hostile toward whites and Asians, but express less “intragroup altruism.”

A 2020 study from ANES supports this hypothesis. Blacks rate other ethnic groups more poorly than any other group. Whites rate outgroups almost identically to themselves; Hispanics and Asians rate outgroups 10-15 points lower; but blacks rate whites almost 25 points lower than their ingroup.

Testing whether or not blacks have low intragroup altruism is difficult, but one way to measure intragroup altruism would be in terms of violent crime. Very high intragroup altruism would predict peaceful, forgiving, and cooperative behavior between members of an ingroup. Going by violent crime statistics, this seems to be highest in Asians, followed by whites, then Hispanics, with blacks at the bottom.

Black violent crime has been hypothesized to be caused by poverty, systemic racism, fatherlessness, low IQ, or high testosterone. But less talked about is the effect of higher narcissistic-psychopathic tendency and lower intragroup altruism. Since blacks have higher levels of “outgroup negativity,” they are more likely to justify crimes against other races. But also, since they have lower levels of “ingroup positivity,” they are less likely to compromise and resolve conflicts peacefully within their own communities.

Bringing things back full circle, narcissistic individuals are not ethnocentric in the sense that they “love their own race,” but in the sense that they hate other races. Hence, the mixed race founders of the NAACP were not necessarily lovers of “black culture,” rather, they were haters of “white supremacy.”

Similarly, trans-gender individuals are not fans of “traditional gender roles,” but rather, they hate “hetero-normativity.” Political polarization is not “love of one’s own side,” but hatred of the other side. All of these trends are driven by narcissism.

why narcissism?

If narcissism lies behind political polarization, trans-racialism, and trans-genderism, then it seems that narcissism as a root cause must be increasing, because all of these three “symptoms” are also increasing. What is driving the increase in narcissism?

There are a few possible explanations:

1. Atomization and alienation: according to Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone (2000), Americans have experienced declining social capital and social trust. The result is atomization. As individuals lack social cohesion, they compensate for this deprivation with narcissism. But what is driving alienation?

   1. Marx argued that capitalism was the root cause of alienation.

   2. Christians argue that a decline in religion is the root cause of alienation.

   3. Ethno-centrists argue that a decline in America’s white majority is the root cause of alienation.

2. Genetics and biology: it is possible that narcissistic people have more children than the general population, and as a result, narcissism is increasing over time. However, this seems unlikely based on a 2014 study that found women with infertility were twice as narcissistic as fertile women.⁹

   1. Mutational load due to environmental toxins could be increasing narcissism. If narcissism is associated with infertility, and infertility is increasing (in part) as a result of pollution, then it is possible that plastics and seed oils also increase narcissistic traits.

   2. It is possible that narcissism is associated with homosexuality and androgyny. That is, when individuals prefer same-sex intercourse, this is reflective of an underlying narcissistic preference for their own gender.

   3. A third hypothesis is that as men become biologically feminized, they become more narcissistic. However, this contradicts the finding that men are more narcissistic than women.¹⁰

   4. A fourth hypothesis is that early puberty is associated with narcissism. Teenagers are notoriously self-obsessed, and this self-obsession may have to do with the hormonal effects of puberty. Precocious puberty may cause lifelong psychological damage, in introducing these “narcissism hormones” before the brain is equipped to deal with them. As a result, victims of precocious puberty may suffer from lifelong narcissistic tendencies due to the effect of “imprinting trauma,” where the earlier a traumatic event occurs, the more impactful it is psychologically.

3. Social media: it is possible that social media is teaching young people to become more narcissistic, by rewarding “show-off” behaviors. By creating a social economy where narcissism is rewarded, children and teens are trained to emulate narcissistic behaviors.

   1. This is probably true to some extent, however, social media emerged from a pre-existing society. When America created Instagram in 2010, it already had reality TV, American Idol (2002), and America’s Got Talent (2006). It could be argued that the “Hollywood movie star” is the proto-type of the “social media influencer.” Both are competing in a hyper-capitalistic attention economy. Social media is simply an extension of a pre-existing Hollywood culture.

In summary, narcissism could be increasing due to:

1. The decline of the family;

2. Declining religiousness;

3. White demographic decline;

4. Pollution;

5. Androgyny;

6. Precocious puberty;

7. Social Media;

8. “Celebrity culture.”

None of these explanations are mutually exclusive. They could all be occurring at the same time. If each of them continue to grow, then trans-racialism is also likely to increase.

There is no evidence that conservatives are fighting any of these underlying trends. Single motherhood continues to be normalized within the conservative movement. 80% of Americans believe that religion is continuing to decline, with no end in sight. Conservatives like JD Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy muddy the waters by appealing to a vague ecumenical deism, and Trump himself is the least Christian president in American history.

America saw the greatest increase in immigration in history over the last four years. Microplastics are increasing every year. Testosterone and sperm counts are at their lowest levels ever observed, likely in part due to rising obesity. The age of puberty has been dropping for 200 years. Social media isn’t going away. And Donald Trump, the king of conservatism, is the biggest celebrity on the planet.

Trump is a symptom of a narcissistic culture, not the cause. Even if conservatives ultimately get rid of Trump, that does not mean they are capable of addressing the root causes of narcissism or dysphoria. It’s easier to blame doctors for everything.

trans-racial futurism.

Interracial marriage has been linearly increasing since 1967 at a rate of 0.29% per year. Unless this levels off at some point in the future, we should expect that by 2030, 21% of all marriages are interracial. However, this does not capture interracial fertility due to children born of single mothers out of wedlock. Even if interracial fertility levels off after 2030, we should expect 20% of Americans to eventually be mixed race. They will exceed the black population (which remains steady between 13-15%).

Indian culture can provide some insight into the future of trans-racialism. Despite the fact that most Indians are racially ambiguous (some could be mistaken for black, others for Italian), Indians have much higher levels of “outgroup negativity” than any other group in the world.

The consumption of skin whitening products in India is also evidence of a form of trans-racial dysmorphia.

As trans-racial dysmorphia increases, we should expect an increase in rhinoplasty, hair dyes, plastic surgery, and other cosmetic treatments. Just as some men want to become women, and some women want to become men, some blacks want to become white, and some whites want to become black.

greener grass on the other side.

In the absence of firm identities, and in the midst of a mass narcissistic crisis, individuals are deprived of egoic stability. As individuals become more narcissistic, the crisis of identity becomes more neurotic or traumatic. We should expect an amplification of already existing problems: as black “outgroup negativity” increases, there will be greater levels of black racial activism. We should also expect “outgroup negativity” to increase among Asians, Hispanics, and whites, leading to an increase in racial polarization, hate crimes, and general social conflict, even as Americans become more mixed than ever before. As it turns out, interracial marriage increases racism.

It seems contradictory: some people will become more ethnocentric, while others will attempt to “switch their race.” Yet both of these phenomena are driven by similar causes. When identities come under stress, this pressure results in a “hardening” or loss of ambiguity. Identitarian pressure results in polarization and bifurcation. This results in “black and white” thinking, where it is no longer acceptable to be racially ambiguous, neutral, or agnostic. Instead, everyone feels they must pick a side: become ethnocentric, hate your own race, or switch races.

Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).

Just as trans-genderism was laughed at and made fun of in the 1990s, trans-racialism is currently considered to be ridiculous and even offensive. Conservatives speculate about what the next “frontier” of leftism will be, and consider taboos such as pedophilia, bestiality, and polygamy. However, trans-racialism is already occurring, and has been culturally visible since the 1990s. Skin whitening has existed for thousands of years, and tanning has been around since the 1970s.

While race has a biological component, it is also social and cultural. Trans-ethnic assimilation has been extensively documented by John Murray Cuddihy. In this sense, Cuddihy¹¹ can be described as a pioneer in the field of trans-ethnic studies.

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1. Her parents sheltered her by homeschooling her, then thrust her into public school while she was going through puberty. I could go on a whole rant about how this is essentially a form of child abuse, but that is not the focus of this article. Needless to say, conservatives never blame the parents: it’s those damned doctors!

2. (2023) Transgender population in the Russian Federation: diversity and trends: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10388604/

3. The study linked does not specify race, and so it is likely that, since whites are more likely to purchase tanning products than other races, and this 55% figure contains non-whites, a white-alone survey would have a much higher percent.

4. Trans-exclusionary feminists.

5. White-to-black.

6. https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/46719/DPBE_2009_2__0_130248_0_90888.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

7. 2009, Boris Bizumic and John Duckitt. "My Group Is Not Worthy of Me": Narcissism and Ethnocentrism: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20447130

8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228079574_Racial_differences_in_narcissistic_tendencies

9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4361974/

10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2669224/

11. The Ordeal of Civility: Freud, Marx, Lévi-Strauss and the Jewish Struggle with Modernity (1974); No Offense: Civil Religion and Protestant Taste (1978)